A little while passed, but the teacher still hadn't arrived.
Lin Ke stood at the front, with the first wife and his own mother on either side of him.
Both women had put on their finest clothes.
The first wife wore a long gown of alternating gold and crimson, with all sorts of gold and silver ornaments adorning her head and a large white jade gemstone on the necklace at her chest.
She looked dignified and splendid.
Lin Ke's mother wore a combination of pale green and crimson, without a single piece of jewelry. She hadn't brought much of a dowry, after all, but she still looked fresh and unassuming.
Their personal maids stood behind them, though their standing seemed slightly lower than that of John, Billy, and Nix.
Neither of these maids had originally served as their personal attendants. No one knew where the first wife's former maid had gone, while his mother had never had one growing up.
Lin Ke had also arranged the guards in two rows for a welcoming ceremony.
"Uncle Billy, the teacher's name is Ove, right? Mr. Ove, the [Enlightenment Teacher]."
Lin Ke turned his head to confirm it once more.
Billy bowed as he answered, "Yes, young master."
With that confirmed, Lin Ke turned back and quietly watched the approach.
For some reason, the teacher was taking forever to cover a few hundred meters.
Just as that thought crossed his mind, however, Ove appeared.
An old man in a pale purple, high-collared robe was walking toward them.
His hair and beard were white, and his right hand rested on a staff made entirely of white metal, with a small purple crystal floating at its tip.
Each step was light, but as his foot moved forward, a faint flash of electricity appeared around him, sending him forward at tremendous speed.
A hundred meters in a single step!
Lin Ke was a little surprised, and a little excited.
But he was ready, and he signaled behind his back.
Billy immediately understood. He turned and clapped his hands at the guards.
The guards promptly stamped their feet. The sound was a little uneven, but they still shouted with plenty of spirit:
"A warm welcome to His Excellency Ove..."
Before they could finish, however, Ove's figure swept into the castle with a whoosh, leaving only a trail of purple lightning behind him.
Everyone froze.
"Little fellow, I'll wait for you in Garros's study." An aged, gentle voice rang out, with a trace of flustered embarrassment.
It was Ove!
"Was... was our preparation inadequate?" Lin Ke frowned slightly. He's a little hard to please! Surely he didn't think our welcome wasn't grand enough?
The first wife was puzzled too. "Garros told me this friend of his was a powerful gentleman, gentle and courteous. Why would he..."
Garros was the name of Lin Ke's father, Viscount Azan.
"Young master, Lord Ove's temperament is a little... unusual. Perhaps you should go upstairs and see him?"
Steward Billy offered the suggestion softly. He seemed to be the only one who knew Ove, perhaps from his time accompanying Garros.
"Yes, I suppose that's all we can do..."
As Lin Ke nodded in reply, he suddenly froze, though he returned to normal a moment later.
He beckoned to John and Nix. "Come on! Let's go meet Teacher Ove together."
As for the first wife and his mother, they naturally went back on their own.
As he walked, Lin Ke suddenly blinked.
[Quest: Ove, who has social anxiety, is here! What are you waiting for? Become his true disciple and keep him at Azan Castle for at least five months!] [Reward: Lost Artifact Fragment]
A quest!
This was a quest!
There was so much information packed into it that Lin Ke nearly blurted out a choice swear word.
So Teacher Ove had social anxiety!
No wonder he'd suddenly landed when he'd been flying along just fine. No wonder he'd spent fifteen or twenty minutes covering only a few hundred meters. No wonder he'd gone straight to his father's study to wait for him...
Even someone this powerful could have social anxiety?
And becoming his true disciple and keeping him here for five whole months sounded a little difficult...
The reward was pretty tempting, though. But it was only a fragment. Who knew whether it would be useful?
Hopefully it wouldn't be like those Penguin and Pig Farm companies, handing out nothing but fragments that you couldn't assemble into a whole even if you spent your entire life trying.
Lin Ke pondered as he walked, his brow faintly furrowed.
John and Nix followed quietly behind him. They thought Lin Ke was angry. After all, Ove had left without so much as looking at the welcoming ceremony they had prepared.
John glanced at the gloomy-looking Lin Ke, leaned toward Nix's big furry ear, and whispered, "We'll help the young master teach that Ove a lesson later!"
In his eyes, all that talk about Professionals and powerful people meant nothing. Only his young master mattered more than anyone else in the world!
If it made the young master happy, he could just let Ove kill him!
That was what the childish but loyal John thought.
"Ah!"
Startled by John suddenly speaking beside his big ear, Nix cried out.
He had been lost in memories of the human lord who had come to his tribe to perform Enlightenment years ago. That man had apparently had an odd temper too, insisting that several of Nix's aunts join him to eat some sort of "big radish." It had been very strange.
Rabbit ears had keen hearing to begin with, so John's sudden voice in the quiet surroundings had naturally startled Nix.
And Lin Ke too.
"What's wrong?"
Lin Ke turned around, puzzled.
"Young master, did that old man upset you? I'll help you play a trick on him later!" John looked fierce, though his childish attempt at ferocity was rather adorable.
Lin Ke paused, then didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "No. I was just thinking that Teacher Ove really... gives me a feeling I can't quite describe. Anyway, don't mess around, or you'll be in trouble!" he warned.
John was still young, at just the age for mischief.
That was fine at other times, but he couldn't afford any slipups at a moment this important.
"Okay..."
Realizing he had misunderstood, John scratched his head.
"Right, John, Nix, try not to say anything later. Just stand there without moving. Understood?"
Lin Ke remembered that he had two little followers with him and needed to make sure they behaved. It would be disastrous if they scared Ove away.
The reward was an artifact fragment, after all!
"Understood. Like playing Statues, right?"
John instinctively put a finger in his mouth and sucked it. He did that whenever he started thinking or became interested in something.
"Statues? Exactly."
Lin Ke had introduced that game to amuse his mother. She was always using his love of play as an excuse to play these children's games herself.
"What's Statues?" Nix didn't understand.
That made John feel a little smug. "It's a secret between me and the young master."
"Secret, my foot." Lin Ke gave him an exasperated swat, then told Nix, "It's a little game. Anyway, just don't move at all later."
For someone with social anxiety, facing three people and facing one person with two statues were very different experiences.
Socializing with strangers was the last thing someone with social anxiety wanted.
"All right, let's go in."
As they talked along the way, they had already reached the top floor.
This was Garros's private domain, and in the future, it would belong to Lin Ke.
Ove's behavior had actually been somewhat discourteous, but it also suggested that he and Garros were very close.
Taking a deep breath, Lin Ke knocked on the door.
"Knock, knock, knock."
P.S. Knock, knock, knock!
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